The Evolution of Finn
by Nayfan-Dickson
Summary: The story of an 18 from Fuchsia who decides to follow his heart and leave home in the hopes of adventure with the hope of landing his dream job at the end of it.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Life was great; the sun was atop a cloudless sky, the tops were off, and the ocean, which was the most beautiful shade of cyan, glittered in the sun. It was days like this that I loved.

Days like today meant that I could just lie back and watch that topless guy walk back and forward behind the secrecy of my sunglasses. Today I had my eye on this one in particular. He had the most beautiful golden hair and the best abs I had ever seen. Once he finished surfing he came back on the beach, dried off and began to roll in the sand with his Growlithe. Nothing was cuter than hearing the shrill screams of a Growlithe as it got its belly rubbed by a hot man.

Wait a minute? Growlithe don't have a shrill scream. Then I felt it.

_WHACK!_

'Fetch! What in the name of all that is Mew was that for?'

'Fetch'

Fetch pointed her leek out into the ocean and that is when I realised where the screams were coming from. There was a young girl, no more than 10 years old, flailing about in the water. At that moment the whole world slowed and I seemed to be moving at a sonic pace. In about five seconds I was riding a Blastoise towards the screams.

'Blastoise GO!'

I threw the Pokéball in the air and ran towards the beach taking off my top as I ran. Behind me Fetch collected my Pokéball, packed it safely in my bag and flew behind me as Blastoise dived into the water in front of me. I leapt onto his back and he headed straight for the little girl.

I had been riding on the back of a Blastoise for about 10 years, so I would like to think that I was rather good at it. It was a really good way to impress guys. Suddenly my mind wandered to all of the guys watching from the beach and how amazing they probably thought I was.

I snapped myself out of my fantasy and realised I had a job to do.

'Squirt, out you come. We have work to do.' I said as Squirt landed on Blastoise's head.

Squirt was a young Squirtle I was training up; I got him about five months before. The organisation I worked for bred water Pokémon so that we could train them to help us while working. Usually we never got Pokémon to train for ourselves, but Squirt would never let anyone else near him and usually cried and hid in his shell if anyone else tried to touch him.

I remember when Squirt hatched; it was right in front of me. Usually we weren't allowed in the egg room, mainly because of how impressionable the Pokémon were immediately after hatching and the Lifeguards were worried that they would latch on to one particular person, but James owed me a favour and he promised me one look. We were just leaving and I knew that night would be the night I would finally break James and get at least one kiss off him, when we heard one of the eggs begin to hatch.

'Right we need to get out here before they catch us,' James said with a hint of fear in his voice. Well that was it decided; he wasn't getting a kiss anymore, what a wuss.

'I don't think so I am staying right here,' as I moved closer towards the egg.

Bits of the shell were starting to fall off, until finally a small blue head popped out of the shell.

'Squirt.'

The small Squirtle tilted its head to the side and started reach out for me. As I lifted him up he squirted me in the face lightly.

'Oh Squirt you are so adorable.'

Ever since then we were inseparable. Luckily we never got in trouble for going into the room, but they could never get near the baby Squirtle, never mind get near him, so he was given to me on the condition I trained and raised him myself. So Squirtle came home with me and ever since then he was my little Squirt.

As we were racing towards the little girl Squirt looked up at me and sprayed me in the face lightly. 'Squirtle, Squirtle!'

We were closing in on the little girl and it was time for action. I knew Squirt could handle this. He had made a few successful rescues but lately he didn't concentrate hard enough. However, the girl was small and I had complete faith in him. All he had to do was swim over to the girl and help her over and on to Blastoise's back. Simple.

But then it all happened so fast. I couldn't stop it.

All of a sudden the little girl had vanished underwater! The next thing I knew Squirt had dived underwater next to her. I didn't know what to do! Panic seared through me. I had never let Squirt out in the ocean by himself. I needed to save that little girl but there was no way Squirt would never be able to bring her to the surface.

Blastoise stopped suddenly and looked back at me waiting for me to give directions.

'Blastoise!'

'I know, I know!' I urged back. I didn't know what to do. The whole world seemed to be standing still and I couldn't get my brain into action. Squirtle could never retrieve that girl… I had faith in him, but not that much. All of a sudden the sound of the waves came back to me and a rush of adrenaline hit me.

'Right Blastoise, you go down and get the girl! Just let her fall onto your back, and I will find Squirt!'

I jumped off his back and dived into the water. As clear as the water seemed from above I could barely see a thing in its murky depths. I couldn't see Squirt anywhere! Actually I couldn't see the girl either. I dived deeper and deeper but couldn't see anything. I came up to get some air when I noticed that Fetch was flying overhead.

'Fetch! Has anyone come up yet?'

Fetch just pointed her leek at me then flew away. What sort of dumb Pokémon did I own, what good did she do me? I swear when I got back I was going to -

'Squirtle! Squirtle!'

I felt a blast of water hitting against my head and when I turned round and there they were, Squirtle and the small girl on the back of Blastoise's back.

'Awk Blastoise! What a good boy you are!'

This time I got a blast of water straight in my face. At least this time it made the little girl laugh. But this time it was more than the water that hit me.

'Squirty! You did this?'

'Squirt, squirt!'

'Awk I am so proud of you! Congratulations!'

I pulled myself onto Blastoise's shell and realised the girl was still just lying there with her eyes closed and hands behind her head, sunbathing on his back.

'Are you okay?' I asked.

'Yeah, I am fine! I was just hoping someone else would rescue me!' she said. She opened one of eyes and glared at me like it was my fault she had been drowning. 'I was hoping for one of the hot guys! I tried to escape but your damn Squirtle found me.'

I didn't know what to say, this little girl had more sass than any of the gays in Fuschia. I don't know what shocked me more, the fact she just faked a drowning, that she just metaphorically slapped me in the face, or the fact that I was slightly impressed by a devious plan devised by a 10 year old.

'You mean you planned this?'

'Well done, sister! Did someone teach you Keen Eye this morning?'

Just at that point I saw Fetch flying towards us, I have to admit, Fetch was my best friend, I had known her for years and I had never met a Pokémon (or human) who I could connect more with. Fetch wasn't heading down towards us, but rather like she would fly right over us. Sometimes I swear Fetch could read my mind.

This time the shrill screams of the girl were for real and all I could is stop myself from laughing off into the ocean.

'That damn bird has just ruined my hair!'

'Unfortunately you can't plan for everything; you should just go home and get your mummy to clean that out for you.'

We dropped the girl off on the beach and Blastoise returned to his Pokéball. Squirt climbed up and sat on my head as we walked across the beach to the Lifeguard hut. Fetch was already waiting for us there. I reached into my bag and threw a few berries at her and lifted the rest up to Squirt.

'I am so proud of the both of you! You both did me proud today!'

Squirt jumped down and lay on the decking outside the hut while Fetch sat on her perch playing with her leek. I left them to relax and went inside.

I placed Blastoise's ball in the holding shelf next to the rest of the rescue Pokémon and walked into the office to write in the diary what had happened, then sign off and spend the rest of the day training Squirt.

'Fintan can I see you in my office for a minute?'

Mr Randilyn was Chief Lifeguard, and my boss. He was a nice enough guy until you stepped out of line and then he was like a Tauros in a china shop. Thankfully he had never got mad at me, and seeing as he was letting me keep Squirt even though I wasn't a Lifeguard Trainer I was convinced I was his favourite.

When I got into his office my mother was sitting with him. This could only end badly. Mummy always took an interest in my life and was always very supportive of me, and I could never ask for a better mother and friend, but still, there was something about this situation that I didn't like.

'Finn honey, don't worry I am here for good reasons, I promise.'

Something inside me squirmed. She had never lied to me before, but sometimes she had this way of not telling the whole truth. Which meant that something good was about to happen, but it probably wasn't going to be anything I had been dreaming on my whole life.

'Honey, Diana has suffered a heart attack.'


	2. Chapter 1: Finding it Fetch

**Chapter 1: **

**Finding it Fetch**

The best thing about living in Fuchsia was the weather, it was always sunny and the skies barely held any clouds at all. That day there was a small breeze coming in from the south, but it was a breeze you welcomed, one that helped to keep you cool. It was the weekend so most of the children were taking advantage and playing outside; off in the distance I could hear an ice cream truck chiming its bells.

I was laid out on a sun lounger reading a book on the Johto Civil War. I loved history; it really fascinated me. Even though I was reading about stuff that happened hundreds of years ago, I always imagined being in the middle of it all. Fighting on the front line, signing the peace treaties, flying overhead bombing the cities below… everything about it. The idea of small insignificant events coming together to form huge significant shockwaves which would affect not only the world at that time, but for years to come, just inspired me so much.

As I laid there, I could hear Squirt playing in the paddling pool. I peered over the top of my book and saw him eyeing something in the grass. Whatever it was, it interested him so much that he climbed out of the water and ran around the garden trying to catch it. I smiled fondly at him, Squirt didn't have a single care in the world, I guess that is what makes me so envious of him, his life must be so simple without anything to worry about and almost oblivious to all the tragedies that happen in the world around him.

Fetch was marching up and down the garden path using her leek like a baton and showing off as usual. Ever since we had watched a cartoon that I enjoyed when I was younger which is about a kid going on a Pokémon adventure she became obsessed with showing off. Probably because the Farfetch'd on the show acted like some sort of military general. Personally, I think Fetch just got a little jealous.

I wasn't ashamed to admit that Fetch was my best friend. She had been in my life for seven years, stuck by me through thick and thin, and was usually whacking me on the shin with her leek. She was a bit of a bitch, but I wouldn't change her for the world. I can remember the day I met her like it was yesterday…

For my eleventh birthday I had wanted nothing more than a Pokémon. But not just any Pokémon, I wanted a Lapras. I was Lapras crazy. My whole room was Lapras themed, right down to the wallpaper, curtains, bedding… I even had a Lapras shaped chair.

At the time, the lifeguards in Fuchsia had used only Lapras in their team, (later on when Mr Randilyn took over they started to incorporate all types of water Pokémon) and I spent most of my days after school at the beach, just watching them work and saving lives. I always knew that I was meant for the water, being a lifeguard and owning a Lapras was the only thing I wanted in my life.

My eleventh birthday was the day that dream died. I never got the Lapras I had been fantasising about; instead I got a 'Guess that Pokémon' board game and a Lapras t-shirt. It was safe to say I went crazy. I stormed up to my bedroom, started to rip the wallpaper off the wall and threw all my Lapras teddies out of my window. That same night I got a wooden spoon to my rear end and sent to bed without birthday cake.

I was so angry at my family; it was like they had no idea who I was, like they didn't even know me. I spent the first half an hour banging on the floor and throwing my ball up against the wall. Why did my parents even buy me a ball? I was never even interested in sports; even to this day I still hated them. Mummy eventually came upstairs and told me that if I didn't go to sleep I would never have another birthday again.

Instead of going to sleep, I packed up all of my underwear and a torch into my school backpack, went downstairs, filled the rest of my backpack with cereal, and I head out the door with the intention of never coming back.

That night the sky was full of dark black clouds and there was a harsh wind coming in from the sea, it kept pushing me back, but there was nothing on this earth that would make me want to go back to that house. I knew if my mother had been there she would be telling me to put my coat on and wrap up warm, so in defiance of her and to show my newfound independence, I took off my jacket and headed towards the beach. I really wanted to sit on the beach and watch the stars sparkle off the water.

What I forgot though, was that there were clouds in the sky and it would not be possible to see any stars at all.

When I got to the beach I took off my shoes and started walking towards the ocean, the sand was cold and had lost all the heat from the previous day. It was so dark that I nearly stepped into a small pool with a Tentacool in it; it was the glimmer from one of the crystals in its head which stopped me in my tracks.

I got to the shoreline and realized that it was too cloudy for the stars to reflect off the water; I started grabbing stones and handfuls of sand and throwing them into the water. All I wanted was to see the stars, everything in my life was just going wrong, and nobody was letting me be happy.

I was so exhausted, it was getting late and I felt like slumping on to the sand, watch as the last of the ripples faded away, and cry until morning. Maybe it wasn't everyone else's fault, maybe it was mine. I had almost decided to go home, and then it suddenly started to rain. I grabbed my stuff and ran to one of the caves just off the side of the beach.

That was it; I had decided this was going to be my new home I was going to live here forever. Away from everyone and my problems, I had it all planned out; I was going to fish at night for food and steal stuff from the beach goers during the day. It all sounded so perfect, until I started to cry and missed my mum. It was at that moment I received my first ever…

_WHACK_

There was a searing pain on my shin and I quickly looked around for the source of the attack. There was a noise from over in the corner, but all I could see was a dark shadow, it was small but I could make out that it was holding something. As the shadow moved towards me, the clouds parted and the moonlight glinted off a pair of eyes.

I ran into the corner and held my bag up in front of me in defence.

"If you want to kill me please don't! If you are an Alien I come in peace… and… can I see your spaceship?"

"Fetch, Fetch!"

A Farfetch'd slowly walked towards me, pointing its leek at me with a puzzled look on its face. As I started to set down my backpack the Farfetch'd lowered its leek. I unzipped my bag and reached in and grabbed a handful of cereal and held it out. The Farfetch'd tilted its head to the side so I moved my hand closer, after a few seconds it soon came over and started eating out of my hand.

I laughed at myself a little at how stupid I was, there were no aliens in Fuchsia, everyone knew you only ever found them up in Kanto.

_WHACK_

"OUCH! What was that for?"

Farfetch'd pointed at my bag with her leek and nibbled at my hand. I noticed she has already ate all of the cereal from my hand, so I reached in and took out the whole box of cereal. I ripped the box open and laid it flat out on the floor and poured the cereal out of the bag and the two of us sat and ate cereal until it was all gone.

Maybe things where not going to be as bad as I thought, with this Farfetch'd I would have the company I needed to stop me from going insane. Farfetch'd could help me gather food, we could keep each other company, and for once in my life I could be happy.

"We can be best friends and roommates, and we can live happily ever after! This is going to be great."

_WHACK!_

"Why do you keep hitting me? It is kind of sore you know!"

_WHACK!_

"Fetch!"

The Farfetch'd just shot me a look of complete disgust and despair. I felt like it was judging me for everything I had ever done in my life and was completely ashamed of me.

"I'm sorry!"

_WHACK!_

This Farfetch'd didn't seem to like me, or anything I said or did. But even in saying that, it came up and snuggled beside me as I fell asleep. That was the start of my new life, a new life of being on my own, on the road, living the Johto Dream.

Fifteen minutes later I was snuggled up, at home, in my own bedroom, in my own bed.

The weather had gotten worse and I woke up when the wind started to bring the rain into the cave. I couldn't stop crying for my mummy, I was so stupid, what was I thinking trying to run away from home? I decided that it was time for me to give this up and go home. If I couldn't even cope sleeping in a cave one night in the rain, how would I have coped the rest of my life? I tried to get the Farfetch'd to come with my but I just got another whack on my shin for that, so I picked up my things and ran home to my mum.

Every day after that night I went back to that cave, I would feed Farfetch'd and she would whacked me. After a while I tried to give her a nickname. After about five or six 'whacks' at various suggestions we finally settled on 'Fetch'. Then after a few months, Fetch started following me home. Eventually my mum caught me with her, and she helped me to feed her. Finally, after about a year Fetch was living with us and slept with me every night.

I couldn't live without Fetch, and as much as she hated to show it, I knew she couldn't live without me.

Every day for the rest of my school life, I would come home and sit with Fetch and train with her. For the most part it was for her to stop hitting me so much. I eventually got her to only hit me when I was acting stupid, or it was important, or she felt like doing it. In the end though, she just hit me whenever she wanted and I basically failed at training her. However, Fetch and I eventually became a great fighting team and we won three out of four of the school Pokémon championships.

My love for Fetch and Pokémon fighting made me want to become a Pokémon trainer and travel the world capturing and training Pokémon. My ultimate dream was to open my own Water Pokémon Gym and having my name known across the whole land. But because I focused too much on reading up on water Pokémon and history books that had nothing to do with my course, I failed most of my courses and had to drop out of school when I was sixteen. So I did what any other sixteen year old gay guy would want to do: I got a job watching hot topless guys swimming all day.

Becoming a life guard soon became the best decision of my life. I loved my job, and not just because of the extra benefits. I loved my working family, and I loved my Pokémon, Squirt and Fetch. Soon my dreams of having my name known throughout the whole of Johto changed into taking over the Lifeguard business and finding a nice guy to settle down with and living happily ever after.

Until then I would spend most of my time working, or, like I am today, lying out in the back garden reading my history books. I went through about three books a month and most of my wages where spent buying new books.

"Finn, your lunch is ready!"

Mum came outside with a plate of sandwiches for me and two bowls of Pokémon food for Fetch and Squirt. She set down the bowls and pulled over a deck chair and sat beside me.

"You know you are going have to make a decision soon." My mum handed me the sandwiches and gave me one of those looks she usually gave. The look told me that she wasn't expecting me to make a decision soon, it was that she was waiting until I made the decision she wanted, or the one she didn't, so that she could force me to do what she wanted me to do.

I think I had made a decision, but I didn't really want to think about it right now. I was scared to admit what I wanted to do, because if I did it would change my whole life, or force me to admit that I was a failure. I tried to change the subject.

"Mum," I said setting my book down and taking a bite into my lunch, "Why do you always insist in giving me butter and mayonnaise? You know I only like one or the other."

"Because you are cheeky and one day you are going to wake up and realise that the best thing that ever happened to you was being born into this house."

"Mum, the best thing that happened to me was realizing that one day I will be able to leave this house."

My mum pushed me off the lounger and my sandwiches went flying all over the ground. We both started to laugh.

"Next time make your own sandwiches then, you selfish little homo!"

"What are you doing in the garden anyway? Get back to the kitchen, woman!"

Mummy came over and helped me up. I gave her a massive hug, I know she kept pushing me for an answer but I knew she was doing it because she loved me.

"I think I have made a decision, just let me go talk to Emily about it first. I love you."

"I love you too, son."


	3. Chapter 2: Awkward Squirtle

**Chapter 2**

**Awkward Squirtle**

There was light was coming through my blinds, I knew it was still early as my room was a light blue hue rather than a bright yellow which would have been brought by the afternoon sun. I looked over at my bedside table and 5am was staring back at me.

I felt like waking up Fetch and Squirt and going out for an early morning training session, but the tenderness of my shin made me think otherwise. For the past week the three of us had been getting up at 7am and doing battle training for two hours, going to work at 10am, training during my lunch hour, coming home at 6pm, dinner, and working in some more training before bed.

Over the past week I had never been as proud owning two Pokémon than I have been in my life. I could never have asked for two harder workers, and the work had paid off. Squirt had been getting stronger and stronger and was nearly giving Fetch a run for her money.

I had set up two obstacle courses in the garden; one for Squirt, with a mixture of water and land, and a balancing pole for him, and one for Fetch, with a mixture of hoops for him to fly through and targets for him to dive at. Soon Squirt found the course too easy and was on to shooting little targets I set up at different heights along the fence. Fetch wasn't too happy when Squirt got bored and started using her as a moving target, this soon turned into mini battles between them.

Fetch, being her cocky self, thought she could take it easy and not try as hard; this was the worst mistake she could make. Squirt had mastered the course I set up for him and could easily dodge any aerial attack Fetch was firing at him and was giving Fetch a tough match with his pin-point precision shots. Once Fetch started to take Squirt more seriously it was really good to watch, the pair of them started working the terrain; dodging around the obstacles, flying through the hoops, and hiding in the water.

We planned to set off that day so I thought the two of them deserved a break and left them both lying in my bed. Fetch usually slept with me, but recently Squirt had started to join us and the three of us drifted off to sleep together. I will admit though a Squirtle is not the comfiest Pokémon to fall asleep beside!

I stuck on a pair of shorts and a jumper and went downstairs to see if there was anything for a quick bite to eat, sadly there was nothing good to eat. I swear mummy never had anything good in this house, so I just grabbed a packet of crisps and headed out the door.

I loved this time of the morning, not a soul was about, and it was just after sunrise so it was light enough, the fog from the night before was just beginning to fade, and there was a nice chill in the air to help me wake up. So I decided to head down to the beach the long way and headed for the forest just off from my street.

As I casually walked along the dirt path I just felt so at ease with myself. There was not a person or Pokémon in sight, just me. I once read when you die that you got to an empty world and live forever in harmony with it and honestly that is how I felt right now. The forest was deadly silent as I walked along I looked back at all the times I had spent in this forest and how the whole place was just steeped in memory.

This forest was where we used to go after school, climbing trees, building forts, and just doing what boys did best, getting dirty. As I grew up though I began to move away from the boys and start playing with the girls, less dirty but just as fun. As we got older we moved from making 'potions' from all the flowers to talking about boys and planning out our dream weddings. I will forever be one of the girls and it will be sad to leave them, especially Emily.

Emily and I were best friends and before she started working in the Safari Zone we spent most days with each other. I told her everything and she was the first person I told that I was gay. Coming out was hard for me and I lost a lot of friends when it happened, basically the only people I was left with was my Mum and Emily. You would think I didn't have much to leave, but in a reality I had everything to leave behind.

I walked along the path and came onto a small clearing which overlooked the whole beach, directly below me was the cave that I used to visit every day to feed Fetch before she started coming home with me. I sat with my legs dangling over the sheer drop looking off into the ocean. It was coming up to 6am as I saw a few Blastoise's and a Lapras out on the ocean getting ready for the day to come.

It had been my dream in the past to take over this beach and run the lifeguard company we had here. Spending the rest of my life saving lives and training Pokémon to do the same, I thought my life belonged in the ocean. Now I had a new adventure ahead of me, a new dream to reach for, and an older dream to resurface. The next month was going to be life changing for me, but in the end it was all going to be worth it.

I climbed down one of the gentler rock faces on to the beach and started walking barefoot along the shore line. I let the ocean come in and wash over my feet. I didn't know the next time I would have the chance to be on this beach, or if I ever would again.

I pulled a necklace out of my pocket with two little bottle shaped vials hanging from it. The vials were about the size of my thumb and were sealed with small corks. I knelt down and filled one with dry sand and the other with sea water. I put the necklace on and held on to the two bottles.

"No matter where I go, the ocean will always be by my heart."

I stood back up and wiped away the tears that had started to fall against my cheek. I was really going to miss this place, Fuchsia was my hometown, I grew up here, and as much as I hated it I actually loved it and I couldn't imagine me growing up anywhere else.

It had been a week and a half since I told my mum I would go and talk to Emily about what I was going to do. Now I was going to tell her what I was going to do and to say goodbye. In the past few years Emily and I had drifted apart a lot and rarely saw each other anymore. We used to talk to each other about everything, get advice about everything from boys, to what we would wear that day, to what we were doing with our lives. Now we barely caught up once a month and literally just fill each other in and give updates. No matter what though I loved her and I had to say goodbye.

As I was leaving the beach I spotted Mr Randilyn out on the decking by the office, he gave me a wave and wished me luck. I had already been to see him yesterday to thank him again for letting my keep Squirt and allowing me to take him on my journey. Mr Randilyn really was a father figure to me over the past few years, and it was really sad to say goodbye to him, but he was the one who pushed me to go on this journey and I wanted to make him proud.

The Safari Zone, where Emily worked, was at the other end of the town so I decided to head home first and see if Fetch or Squirt had woken up yet and bring them along. Fetch wasn't there when I got back but that didn't worry me, she usually flew off without warning during the day, she was still a wild Pokémon at heart. Squirt was awake and just casually rolling about my floor, when he heard me come in he quickly jumped up as if he had never been doing it. I know Squirt always wanted to impress me, but he was still only young, and I didn't want him to grow up too fast.

"Come on silly, we are going up to the park to see Emily'

Squirt ran towards me with his arms outstretched.

"Squirtle, Squirt"

"No, I am not carrying you, either you get in your Pokéball or you are walking."

Squirt stopped dead in his tracks, gave me a really dirty look, and then walked out the door. Looks like Squirt was walking today. So off we went.

As we walked along Squirt ran on ahead, he spent most of the time walking off the path, chasing bugs and insects. As much as I loved Squirt, I worried about him. We never finished his lifeguard training, and had scarcely done any battle training with him; I am just not sure if he was ready. No matter what doubts I had though I knew Squirt would always try his best, and could never let me down.

Once we got up to the Safari Zone I let Squirt roam off by himself, he had been up here a few times and I knew he wouldn't get lost or anything, while I went off to find Emily. I found her in the front building up on the balcony overlooking the lake.

"Emily! How are you babes?"

Emily looked round at me, I saw in her eyes that she was expecting someone else and for split second I could tell she was going to turn her back on me. Instead she flashed a huge smile and reached out to hug me.

"Hiyah! Long-time no see, things are good."

This was typical of her. She always tried to make out that she was enthusiastic about seeing me, but in reality she never did, and didn't care about my life or how I was. She turned back around and looked out across the Safari Zone again.

"That's good."

I knew Emily and I hadn't been as close as we had before, but this was just a total awkward Squirtle moment. So was the silence that followed. Emily and I just didn't click anymore; it was like something was missing. I thought I might as well just tell her what was going on.

"So I am going to Cerulean."

"Oh that's nice."

I could tell that she didn't care for me anymore. She was more interested in a Butterfree off in the distance than what I had to tell her. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered anymore, why should I be the one to keep a friendship going that is clearly coming to an end?

"Possibly forever."

"Wait what?" Emily turned round and looked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Well last week Mum and Mr Randilyn brought me into his office and told about Diana having a heart attack," and so I went on to tell her what happened inside the office that day…

"Honey, Diana has suffered a heart attack." I looked at Mum like she had just evolved into a three headed Pokémon, "She was the women who took over Cerulean Gym from Misty."

"Oh ye', but wasn't she only in the job for a year?"

"Yes," My Randilyn cut in, "We don't really know the reason at the minute. Parker has taken over the gym on a temporary basis."

I was still confused about this whole situation.

"Well what has any of this got to do with me?"

Mum pulled out the chair in front of me and told me to sit down and then handed me a leaflet. I sat down and read it. It was a leaflet advertising a competition to be the new Gym Leader of Cerulean Gym.

"Okay, so why are you giving me this?"

"Well your mother and I have been discussing and we think that you should go for it."

I said there completely dumfounded, my mum went off into this speech about how they were looking for all trainers over the age of eighteen to come and take part in a five part competition to become the new gym leader. The winner would become leader of the best Water Pokémon Gym in the country, live in the Leaders House in Cerulean and be able to run the gym how the pleased, the only conditions where that you had to be over the age of eighteen and have a mainly water based team.

"… and we would all be behind you and we all know that you could do it. Finn are you even listening?"

"Yes I am, but how is that even possible."

Mr Randilyn came over and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Son, you are my top lifeguard here, and it pains me to lose you, but I know you can do this. You have shown me nothing but passion and love for both Pokémon and the water, you have done everything with nothing but sheer determination, and you could be the best damned trainer if you put your mind to it."

As I was telling Emily what had happened in the office, I noticed that she was slowly losing interest in everything that I was saying. I loved her I really did, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that she didn't care about me anymore.

"So I am going to go off traveling for a month in preparation for the competition and then apply for it. What do you think? Emily?"

Emily snapped out of her trance like state and looked at me for a second.

"No of course I think it is great, but not for you Finn. You would never be able to do it." At this point Squirt walked out onto the balcony and lay on the ground beside me. "Like the only water Pokémon you have is that stupid little Squirtle, and it will sure as anything not do you any good."

At that point I realised that Emily was no longer my best friend, she was barely even my friend. I told her where she could shove her opinion and stormed out of the place. How could she even say that to me? Fair enough, all I had was Squirt and Fetch, but I was going to spend the next month catching and training new water Pokémon. I had a good a chance as any really. All I had to do was put my mind to it.

Yes it was going to be hard, but even I had confidence in myself with this. Finn, Cerulean's Water Gym Leader. My name would be known throughout the land and I would be part of the Pokémon League. All I had to do was go for it. After all, if I didn't succeed I could always come back here with a new team of water Pokémon and work again for Mr Randilyn. Either way it was going to be a great adventure, a great experience, and win or lose a great opportunity.


End file.
